Principal Software Engineer

Staff / Principal Software Engineer ( Kotlin / Java / React ) 6-Month Contract | Sydney / Hybrid | ASAP Start I'm working with a leading product-led organisation looking for a hands-on Staff / Principal Software Engineer to help shape the next phase of a complex, customer-facing digital platform. This is an opportunity for a senior technical leader who enjoys operating across architecture, backend engineering, frontend development and data. You'll play a key role in evolving APIs and microservices, helping break down complex systems, and influencing technical direction across multiple engineering teams. The team is looking for someone who combines strong engineering fundamentals with excellent communication, stakeholder management and the ability to bring people along on technical decisions. This isn't a purely architectural role - you'll remain hands-on while helping establish the standards, patterns and direction for the wider engineering team. AI is also becoming an increasingly important part of how the team builds software, so they're keen to hear from engineers who are experimenting with AI-assisted and agentic development and are interested in shaping how these practices are adopted. What You'll Be Doing • Lead technical design and architecture across complex software applications, APIs and microservices. • Help shape the next phase of platform architecture, including breaking down larger systems into more modular, scalable services. • Stay hands-on with software development, contributing to backend services, APIs, integrations and frontend applications. • Work closely with engineering, product, data and other stakeholders to understand problems, challenge assumptions and agree on pragmatic technical solutions. • Contribute to data-heavy initiatives, particularly around reporting, measurement and data-driven product capabilities. • Help define engineering standards, architectural patterns and best practices across teams. • Mentor and guide engineers, supporting technical decision-making and raising the quality of engineering delivery. • Identify opportunities to improve reliability, scalability, maintainability and developer experience. • Explore and champion effective use of AI-assisted development and agentic engineering workflows. What We're Looking For • Proven experience operating at Staff, Principal or equivalent senior technical leadership level. • Strong software engineering fundamentals, with substantial experience in backend development, APIs and microservices. • Experience designing and evolving complex distributed systems and planning architectural changes. • A broad technical perspective across backend, frontend and data, with an interest in understanding how these areas work together. • Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts and influence decisions. • A hands-on approach to engineering, balanced with the ability to guide teams and establish technical direction. • Experience mentoring engineers, driving engineering standards and working collaboratively across cross-functional teams. • A pragmatic, curious mindset and the ability to balance technical quality with the pace of product delivery. • An interest in AI-assisted development, LLMs and agentic engineering practices. Technology Environment The platform spans backend services, APIs and microservices, frontend applications and data-heavy reporting capabilities. The wider engineering environment includes: • Kotlin / Java and Spring Boot • React and TypeScript • PostgreSQL, BigQuery and dbt • APIs, microservices and distributed systems • AI-assisted and agentic development tools You don't need to be an expert in every technology listed. The priority is strong engineering fundamentals, architectural judgement and the ability to work across technical boundaries. • Contract: Initial 6 months, with potential to extend • Location: Sydney • Working model: Hybrid, approximately 3 days in the office • Start: ASAP • Rate: Competitive, dependent on experience Interested? If you're a Staff or Principal Engineer who enjoys solving complex technical problems, influencing architecture and helping teams build better software - while remaining hands-on - I'd love to hear from you. #J-18808-Ljbffr